Why are we a "Nation Under GOD", when our amendment states we have a freedom of Religion?

Question

I have to swear under oath in a court of law which is fine but why do we have to put GOD in it when there are people that don't believe in GOD in that sense.

Answer 1

The phrase "under God" was added to the Pledge of Allegiance (i.e. flag salute) in 1954 due to the repeated efforts over several years by the Knights of Columbus.

Francis Bellamy's original pledge (from 1892) read:

I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

In spite of the personal conventions of our presidents, the _official_ Oath of Office of the President of the United States reads:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

In a court situation, I believe they (the judicial system) is supposed to offer an Affirmation (as an alternative to the "standard" oath) that doesn't include the "so help me God" thing at the end.

Bottom line, we were never meant to be a "nation under God" - this is all a (relatively) recent development, fueled by personal agenda and tunnel-vision perspective.

Maybe this country needed the "under God" think in '54. Maybe it helped morale.

Personally, I think it's outlived its usefulness.

Answer 2

Because our founding fathers envisioned freedom of religion as being mainly about not having the state enforce one particular Christian denomination. The religious wars of England were fresh on their minds, and they did not want the state to take sides in the Christian denominational contest. They did believe it was necessary to have theistic religion of some sort to act as a glue to hold society together. George Washington said the republic would not last long without the two great pillars of religion and morality. Yes, there were some who rejected this notion, but history shows their influence was deliberately marginalized by their peers. No, there is no inconsistency here. Freedom of religion does not imply the absence of a national reliance on the blessings and providence of God.

Answer 3

Louis A. Bowman used to be the primary to provoke the addition of "below God" to the Pledge.He acknowledged that the phrases got here from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.In 1951, the Knights of Columbus, the sector's greatest Catholic fraternal carrier institution, additionally started adding the phrases "below God" within the Pledge of Allegiance. President Eisenhower, despite the fact that raised a Jehovah's Witness, were baptized a Presbyterian only a 12 months earlier than. He spoke back enthusiastically to Docherty in a talk following the carrier. Eisenhower acted on his proposal day after today and on February eight, 1954, Rep. Charles Oakman (R-Mich.), announced a invoice to that outcome. Congress handed the crucial laws and Eisenhower signed the invoice into legislation on Flag Day, June 14, 1954. The word "below God" used to be included into the Pledge of Allegiance June 14, 1954, through a Joint Resolution of Congress amending §7 of the Flag Code enacted in 1942. "In God We Trust": The motto is antagonistic for a type of explanations, however remains to be commonly supported through a majority of Americans. According to a 2003 Gallup Poll, ninety% of Americans approve of the inscription on U.S. cash. The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment states that Congress shall make no legislation respecting an established order of faith. Critics contend that the motto's placement on cash constitutes the established order of a faith or a church through the federal government. The Supreme Court has upheld the motto considering that it has "misplaced via rote repetition any giant devout content material"; so-known as acts of "ceremonial deism" that experience misplaced their "historical past, person, and context". In such similar selections as Zorach v. Clauson, the Supreme Court has additionally held that the country's "associations presuppose a Supreme Being" and that govt attention of God does no longer represent the established order of the sort of state church because the Constitution's authors supposed to ban. Constitutionalists item to sworn judiciaries using ancient context in what they suppose have got to be a uncooked textual interpretation. Some activists had been recognized to pass out the motto on paper cash as a variety of protest. Although federal legislation (18 U.S.C. § 333 and 18 U.S.C. § 475) prohibits defacement and amendment of forex below specific distinctive stipulations, no documented circumstances exist of prosecution for such movement, and the Federal Reserve probably recirculates in a similar fashion defaced notes

Answer 4

Because during the Cold War people wanted a way to separate us from 'those godless commies' and so they stuck that into the Pledge of Allegiance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_allegiance#Addition_of_the_words_.22under_God.22

Also, in most courts that I've been in you don't have to swear before the christian god with your hand on their bible. You can state that you're not a believer, and you simply use the secular affirmation.

Answer 5

Because our founding fathers believed in God and a lot of Americans do!!!And others all around the world too!!!

Answer 6

It got put into the Pledge of Allegiance during the Cold War. Everyone was freaking out about Communism and McCarthy, so they put it in to appease the idiots.

Doesn't it make you sick?

Answer 7

We are a nation born under the belief in God YET we want all to be able to worship as they choose.........

Answer 8

"under god" was added during the cold war to differentiate ourselves from the "godless communists".

Answer 9

Atheism isnt a "religion". Apples and Oranges.